Comment Re:That's patentable? (Score 1) 282
whoops, didn't read Trebuche's comment.
Comment Re:That's patentable? (Score 1) 282
Mikes Toilet seems to be 1000x more interesting, if only for the fact that the updates seem automatic, meaning someone actually did hook up a twittering device to his toilet!
Comment Re:this should be easy (Score 2, Interesting) 282
The primary reason why AutoProfile is not prior art is because the IBM patent specifically refers to a: remote controller, suitable for use while viewing media programming and content
I primarily use my computer to "view media programming and content." The remote controller in this context is usually called a computer mouse.
and:
The enhanced remote controller allows the viewer to both communicate with a blogging server, and thus to a blogging service, as well as to display responses to and from other bloggers with whom the viewer is communicating. These blog communications may be accomplished without the viewer having to leave the broadcast receiver of the television.
which AutoProfile is not and has no functionality for.
Sorry, wrong plugin.
If it's the fact the remote can post twitter updates, how is it any different than a nokia tablet with mythetomer? Or a phone that can also be used as a remote control? I use bluetooth to change the channels on my MythTv for example, and could you really say your tivo isn't technically a computer?
I'm aware that Nokia and Motorola didn't specifically design a phone for this purpose, but it probably is already used as such by some users.
Comment this should be easy (Score 1) 282
Ugh, can someone say prior art?
Dad Builds 700 Pound Cannon for Son's Birthday
410
Hugh Pickens writes "The Charleston Daily Mail reports that machinist Mike Daugherty built his son a working cannon for his birthday — not a model — a real working cannon. 'It looks like something right out of the battle at Gettysburg,' says Daugherty. The 700 pound cast iron and steel howitzer, designed to use comparatively small explosive charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories with a steep angle of descent, has a 4-inch gun barrel that is 36 inches long mounted on a wooden gun carriage with two 36- inch diameter wheels and took Daugherty about two weeks to build at a cost of about $6,000. 'I've always been interested in the Civil War and cannons, so I thought it would be a good gift,' says Daugherty's 11-year old son Logan. Daugherty said he is not worried about the federal government coming to get his son's cannon because he spoke to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and found it is legal to own such a cannon because it does not use a firing pin and is muzzle loaded so the government does not consider the weapon a threat. Two days after the family celebrated Logan's 11th birthday, father and son offered a field demonstration of the new cannon on top of a grassy hill overlooking Fairmont, West Virginia and on the third try, the blank inside the barrel went boom and a cannon was born. For a followup they popped a golf ball into the gun barrel, lit the fuse, and watched the golf ball split the sky and land about 600 yards away. 'Any rebels charging up this hill would be in trouble with a cannon like this at the top,' Logan says."
Comment Re:Do you have non anecdotal evidence? (Score 1) 907
So maybe it's time for both kernel developers and distribution packagers to focus a little bit more on which hardware users are buying. Which is not multi (4+) core servers, but rather cheap laptops and netbooks.
Someone's buying those, and it's the people with the money. Con Kolivas ran into the same problem years and years ago.
Comment Re:Poor choice for screensaver? (Score 1) 907
Comment Re:Fiduciary duty? (Score 0) 476
Bullshit.
This is the same lame defense that the telecoms used. The court asked Google to violate their privacy policy, and Google said, "Yes sir, while you're at it would you like me to bend over?" From my reading of the story, there was absolutely no push back from Google. They totally deserve this suit.
Google should stop logging IP addresses for its other services just like it did for search.
This is the same lame defense that the telecoms used. The court asked Google to violate their privacy policy, and Google said, "Yes sir, while you're at it would you like me to bend over?" From my reading of the story, there was absolutely no push back from Google. They totally deserve this suit.
Google should stop logging IP addresses for its other services just like it did for search.
Submission + - Sears.com Squelches Web Programming Blunder (foxnews.com)
blitzkrieg3 writes: Earlier today someone made public a trivial exploit on the Sears.com website. Sears was storing page paramaters from the client editable url into the catagory of the page, leading to some pretty funny results. Once the catagories were loaded into the cache, every subsequent hit would pull up the same user submitted catagories, even without any page paramaters. TMZ and Fox News have their own reports. Reddit has since been forced to take the post off of their front page by their parent Conde Nast, but the page can still be accessed via permalink.
Neural Networks-Equipped Robots Evolve the Ability To Deceive 116
pdragon04 writes "Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have found that robots equipped with artificial neural networks and programmed to find 'food' eventually learned to conceal their visual signals from other robots to keep the food for themselves. The results are detailed in a PNAS study published today."
Comment Re:Obvious (Score 2, Insightful) 250
The market doesn't work like that. People flock to the features that they want most, not the features that you deem are the most useful. For example, everyone in Japan is already using swipe payment, in spite of the fact that you think it is "retarded". This is a selling point for almost every smart phone but the iPhone.
Comment Re:Obvious (Score 1) 333
Ahh it may be too late for mod points, but xkcd is always relevent.
Comment Re:Newspaper and Online BATTEL o' DETH! (Score 1) 417
Free news isn't all that hard to find. Neither is tabloid news. I had to stave off about 3 free tabloid vendors just on my way to work today.
Quality journalism is hard to find. Not only that, but it's expensive. There is a reason that HuffPost and DailyKos and TPM don't have bureaus in Iraq or Afganistan. That stuff costs $$$$$
Quality journalism is hard to find. Not only that, but it's expensive. There is a reason that HuffPost and DailyKos and TPM don't have bureaus in Iraq or Afganistan. That stuff costs $$$$$
Comment Re:Let it die. (Score 1) 554
It may be the more interesting aspect of this story isn't the record industry losing customers, but the younger generations skipping the main marketing arm of the recording industry, FM radio.
MTV already replaced radio for this function a long time ago. You mentioned Britney Spears; I didn't hear her on the radio, rather I "heard" her first single on Carson Daily's TRL. MTV is quickly being replaced by YouTube, ala OK Go.
Damn Brit was hot as a 17 year old school girl though (before you say anything, I was 16 at the time)
Comment Re:Let it die. (Score 1) 554
Word of mouth only goes so far, and advertising is expensive.
In the days of people having 100s (if not1000s) of "friends" on sites like Facebook, "word of mouth" is a hell of a lot more effective than it ever was before - and that's likely to remain true going forward.
I actually tend to think the opposite. I have so many friends on facebook that aren't my real friends that invites over fb tend to mean less to me then a phone call, or even an email. Plus you know that everyone invites their entire friends list so you don't get the feeling that the person really wants you to be there.
